Abundant HIV-infected cells in blood and tissues are rapidly cleared upon ART initiation during acute HIV infection
Louise Leyre, Eugène Kroon, Claire Vandergeeten, Carlo Sacdalan, Donn Colby, Supranee Buranapraditkun, Alexandra Schuetz, Nitiya Chomchey, Mark de Souza, Wendy Bakeman, Rémi Fromentin, Suteeraporn Pinyakorn, Siriwat Akapirat, Rapee Trichavaroj, Suthat Chottanapund, Sopark Manasnayakorn, Rungsun Rerknimitr, Phandee Wattanaboonyoungcharoen, Jérôme H. Kim, Sodsai Tovanabutra, Timothy W. Schacker, Robert J. O’Connell, Victor Valcour, Praphan Phanuphak, Merlin L. Robb, Nelson L. Michael, Lydie Trautmann, Nittaya Phanuphak, Jintanat Ananworanich, Nicolas Chomont, on behalf of the RV254/SEARCH010, RV304/SEARCH013, SEARCH011 study groups
Abstract
T cell subsets confirmed the unstable nature of most of the infected cells at Fiebig stages I to III and the emergence of persistently infected cells during the transition to Fiebig stage IV. Our results indicate that although a large pool of cells is infected during acute HIV infection, most of these early targets are rapidly cleared upon ART initiation. Therefore, infected cells present after peak viremia have a greater ability to persist.